Displays on many industrial, professional and consumer devices include some kind of illumination to enable users to view the display in low light environments. In contrast to back-lit display technology such as liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, reflective displays are not back-lit and depend on light reflecting off the surface to a user, such as electronic paper displays which simulate or closely mimic the appearance of a paper or a printed document. Reflective displays typically do not include their own source of illumination. In reflective display technology, a light source, whether ambient light or other generated light, is on the same side of the reflective display as the user reading or viewing the reflective display.
Thus, if such a display is to be illuminated beyond an ambient level of light, some form of integrated light source emits light above the display layer. Often, the light emitted is so high intensity that light leaks from the edges of the device in to which the display is incorporated, or from seams in a plastic housing of the device. In other scenarios, unwanted light reflects or leaks back towards the display, causing uneven lighting, glare, or other undesirable effects on the display. Such unwanted light leakage can be distracting to a user and detrimental to reading in low light conditions. Thus, such devices are forced to make a tradeoff between either providing a light source for enabling readability in low light situations and dealing with the resulting light leakage and visual distractions, or providing no light source and foregoing the ability to read reflective displays in low light situations.